Despite tolerability concerns, nomlabofusp’s overall efficacy represents a “large win” for Larimar, according to analysts at William Blair, who lauded the therapy’s functional benefits.
Roche will gain worldwide rights outside of the Greater China region to Hansoh’s HS-20110, an antibody-drug conjugate in early-stage development for colorectal cancer.
The Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher awards companies that align with specific national priorities—such as boosting domestic manufacturing and lowering drug prices—with faster reviews and more frequent interactions with the FDA.
With more than $1.5 billion on the line, Gilead looks to bolster its CAR T portfolio.
EMD Serono will offer its fertility treatments on TrumpRx at a steep discount, and Roche’s direct-to-consumer offering will cover its flu pill Xofluza.
During this webinar BioSpace sits down with former FDA Chief Information Officer Vid Desai to discuss the potential advantages and pitfalls of deregulation stemming from one of President Donald Trump’s first executive orders. Together, they uncover what this shift means for drugmakers, compliance and patient safety.
In this episode presented by PII, BioSpace’s head of insights discusses decentralized clinical studies and how connected technology can improve patient compliance with guests Oliver Eden and Travis Webb.
FEATURED STORIES
FDA
Lined up for the FDA in the coming weeks are a cell-based gene therapy for a rare skin disease and two product expansions for Regeneron, one with partner Sanofi.
As the biopharma industry grapples with the uncertain macro environment brought on by the new administration, CEOs, regulators and many others speak out.
Pharma stocks went on a wild ride Wednesday amid whiplashing tariff threats from the U.S. president.
FDA
Experts express concern that last week’s unprecedented FDA layoffs will trigger a little-known mechanism that could result in a “disaster” the Trump administration doesn’t see coming.
As the industry awaits official word from the administration on how the tariffs will hit, analysts go over the possibilities with one certainty: there will be increased costs for medicines.
Wegovy and Zepbound are just the latest drug dyads to face-off in the competitive pharma market, continuing a legacy of rivalry that includes blockbuster drugs Keytruda, Humira and Eliquis.
FROM BIOSPACE INSIGHTS
Biotech’s slump may finally be over in 2026. In interviews with BioSpace, Zymeworks’ CEO Ken Galbraith and Zai Lab’s President and COO Josh Smiley explain what’s fueling the comeback.
UPCOMING EVENTS
LATEST PODCASTS
BioSpace’s ⁠Lori Ellis⁠ and ⁠Chantal Dresner⁠ bring live updates from ⁠day three of #DIA2024⁠ in San Diego.
DEI
This week on Denatured, Head of Insights Lori Ellis and guests discuss the persisting challenges of diversity, equity and inclusion when designing clinical trials.
This week’s news ranged from BioSpace’s on-the-ground updates from DIA to safety concerns in clinical trials to BIOSECURE Act updates to new projections that the GLP-1 market could top $100 billion within 10 years.
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SPECIAL EDITIONS
In this deep dive, BioSpace investigates China’s rise as a biotech powerhouse.
In this deep dive, BioSpace explores the next big thing in obesity.
BioSpace did a deep dive into biopharma female executives who navigated difficult markets to lead their companies to high-value exits.
DEALS
  1. Under a multi-year agreement announced Wednesday, Eli Lilly will leverage Haya Therapeutics’ proprietary RNA-guided genome platform to identify drug targets to address the chronic conditions.
  2. Not all licensing deals are successful. Here, BioSpace examines a few noteworthy assets that Big Pharma returned in the last 12 months.
  3. Belgium-based biopharma UCB is selling its Chinese neurology and allergy business to Singapore asset management firm CBC Group and Abu Dhabi investment company Mubadala.
  4. Venture capital in the sector hit $9.2 billion in the second quarter of 2024, up from $7.4 billion in Q1, while exits fell on a slower M&A cycle and picky IPO market.
  5. M&A activity surges and IPOs return as the biotech industry navigates a changing business landscape marked by strategic consolidation and renewed investor focus on innovation.
WEIGHT LOSS
  1. Eli Lilly’s request to intervene in a suit filed by compounding pharmacies against the FDA reflects a belief the outcome could affect its business and that the FDA does not adequately represent its interests.
  2. Already established as cornerstone therapies in diabetes and obesity, GLP-1 receptor agonists also show potential in several other indications, including cancer, addiction and neurodegenerative diseases.
  3. Novo Nordisk executives set a high bar for itself when it projected CagriSema could achieve 25% weight loss. When the GLP-1 combo didn’t hit that mark, investors reeled.
  4. Investors appeared disappointed by CagriSema’s Phase III readout, which showed weight loss that fell short of Novo Nordisk’s prior projections for the therapy. Meanwhile, Eli Lilly’s stock rose on the news.
  5. After a couple months of uncertainty, the FDA has told compounding pharmacies that they have 60 to 90 days before the agency will enforce rules to stop their production of GLP-1s.
POLICY
  1. FDA
    Losing the FDA’s senior negotiators would slow the renewal of the user fee programs “considerably,” according to policy and regulatory expert Steven Grossman.
  2. FDA
    Industry representatives will still be allowed at these meetings, but they will no longer have a spot on the advisory committee.
  3. Like they say about the weather in Iceland, if you don’t like an action taken by the new administration, wait five minutes; it’ll probably change. The markets, it seems, don’t react kindly to that kind of policymaking.
  4. The Health and Human Services Secretary said that he will find and eliminate the cause of autism by September, an idea that suggests how little he knows about the condition.
  5. GeoVax was using its HHS contract to develop its next-generation multi-antigen COVID-19 vaccine, which is in Phase IIb development.
CAREER HUB
Going through a career transition can be stressful and difficult to navigate. Many professionals don’t know how to start the process or begin to explain the reasoning for making a shift.
Looking for a career boost? Here are a few practical tips to progress in the post-COVID career landscape.
Non-negotiables are the factors that you decide must exist or must not exist in order for you to say yes to a position.
The pandemic and its subsequent effect on the workplace has been the source of stress for many professionals. Here are 3 ways to boost mental health at work.
Leadership can be a very challenging skill, and you cannot learn it overnight. People take years learning how to perform leadership at work that can be profitable for them.
While imposter syndrome can be caused by external factors, there are several things you can start doing today to combat it at work. Here are some tips for overcoming imposter syndrome.
The informational interviews are one-on-one conversations with a professional who is doing something or working somewhere that seems interesting to you.
HOTBEDS
Where are the Best Places to Work in life sciences? BioSpace’s annual Best Places to Work list demonstrates a company’s desirability in the recruitment marketplace - find out who made the list this year.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Winrevair yielded significant and meaningful clinical benefits for patients with combined post- and precapillary pulmonary hypertension, an indication that, according to BMO Capital Markets, has few treatment options.
REPORTS
In this Employment Outlook report, BioSpace explores current workforce sentiment, job activity trends and the prospective job and hiring outlook for 2025, particularly as it compares to the previous year.
BioSpace’s third report on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in life sciences examines dramatic shifts in attitude around diversity initiatives.
CANCER
  1. Following an initial report from Reuters, Merck KGaA confirmed that it is in talks with SpringWorks for a potential acquisition, though details of its offer have yet to be revealed.
  2. Eli Lilly inked two collaborations on Monday, one focused on cardiometabolic diseases with South Korea’s OliX Pharmaceuticals and another for cancer therapies with Australia’s AdvanCell.
  3. Adding a new indication for the CAR T cell therapy could help BMS offset the loss-of-exclusivity headwinds it faces in the coming years.
  4. Kuro Oncology and partner Kyowa Kirin are on track for an NDA submission for ziftomenib in the second quarter of this year.
  5. Despite significant dips in its vaccines sales, the British pharma narrowly beat consensus estimates for Q4 2024 and raised 2031 sales projections to just over $50 billion.
NEUROSCIENCE
  1. ALS
    Misses from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis hopefuls Denali Therapeutics and partners AbbVie and Calico Life Sciences mark the latest setbacks for the controversial platform trial, the results from which have largely mirrored the dismal success rate in ALS overall.
  2. Backed by ARCH Venture Partners, F-Prime Capital and Mubadala Capital, the new company will develop a pipeline of brain-penetrant small molecules to address inflammation, metabolic dysfunction and restoring lysosomal function.
  3. ALS
    Denali’s failure on Monday continues biopharma’s losing streak against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. PTC Therapeutics and Amylyx have seen similarly disappointing results.
  4. Effectively treating and preventing this common form of dementia will require a cocktail of drugs and a combination of approaches, as well as a drive toward early detection.
  5. Among the FDA’s pending decisions for this quarter are Vertex’s non-opioid pain drug and Sanofi’s RNA interference therapy for hemophilia A and B.
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
  1. Analysts did not seem very concerned by the treatment-related serious adverse event, noting that NGN-401 was well-tolerated at a lower dose and showed promising efficacy outcomes.
  2. The investigational therapy, vesleteplirsen, had been positioned as an updated version of Sarepta’s original exon 51-skipping Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug Exondys 51.
  3. Truist Securities analyst Asthika Goonewardene in an investor note said data for anito-cel—particularly its safety profile—will help differentiate the CAR T therapy from Legend Biotech and J&J’s entrenched Carvykti in relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.
  4. In our anniversary episode, we discuss a rare earnings miss for Eli Lilly, a pivotal metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis victory for Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, growing excitement about CAR Ts for autoimmune disease and the ongoing controversy over HeLa cells.
  5. In a tough fundraising space, cell therapy biotechs pursuing autoimmune indications review staffing to ensure the right expertise is in place to tackle the new disease area.